Children&#39;s clothing with sound producing module

ABSTRACT

A child&#39;s garment which has a cartoon character of a stylized animal face secured to its front surface. A sound producing module is inserted into the interior of the character or animal. A first series of fasteners extends across the front of the garment, and a second set of fasteners extends across the front of the garment, and a second set of fasteners extends across the back of the module. The module is snapped into temporary engagement with the garment. The sound produced by depressing the module is related to, or associated with, the character or animal. The module, when unsnapped, is removed from the garment and placed in a playpen, stroller, or other location, as a stand alone toy. The garment may then be cleaned and laundered.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/408,696, filed Nov. 1, 2010, in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention pertains to an article of children's clothing utilizing a sound producing module to generate a song or message to entertain the child.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Articles of children's clothing, such as “onesies” and bibs, incorporating sound modules therein, are known. U.S. Patent Publication 2002/0108162, filed Feb. 9, 2001, by G. Bolds-Leftridge and published on Aug. 15, 2002, discloses a child's bib adapted for educational activities. The body portion of the bib includes inscriptions, and indicia, written upside down, so that the child may read same. FIG. 4a shows sound chip 80, for producing music; the chip is embedded in the fabric of the bib, as described in paragraph [0023].

U.S. Pat. No. 7,048,160, granted May 23, 2006, to Antonio D. Anderson, discloses an infant feeding and entertainment support worn by a mother feeding her baby including: balls 10 and teething rings 11, as shown in FIG. 6. A music module 8a is embedded within the plastic of fabric material of pouch 8 on the front panel. The music module is activated by manually pressing same, as noted in column 2, lines 2-7.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The instant inventions provides a removable music producing module that may be snapped into engagement with a “onesie”, a bib, overalls, or other articles of children's clothing. The sound produced by the module is correlated to the character secured to the front of the garment. The module may be removed from the garment and placed in a crib, stroller, or baby carriage, as a stand-alone toy, for added versatility. The module may also be removed when the garment is washed, or ironed, so that the module is not subjected to harsh treatment and the useful life of the module is increased considerably.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the front of an infant's garment, such as a “onesie,” with snaps adapted to retain a sound producing module;

FIG. 2 shows the rear surface of the sound producing module, positioned adjacent to the front of the infant's garment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows the sound producing module secured to the front of the infant's garment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the pouch for the sound producing module;

FIG. 5 shows the front of a bib with an animal character containing the sound producing module; and

FIG. 6 is a front view of the bib with a flap folded upwardly to reveal the animated character that retains the sound producing module.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1-4 show a garment 10 worn by an infant. Garment 10 includes a crotch area 12 that is normally closed by snap fasteners 14. When the infant spits up on the garment, or otherwise soils same, the crotch area is opened and the garment is easily slipped over the head of the infant. A diaper may be changed, and a clean garment may be slipped over the body of the infant. The ease of the removal, and replacement of garment 10, is appreciated by the parents, babysitters, caregivers, etc. Garments of this type are frequently called “onesies,” for they find ready application to babies and very young children.

Three, or more, snap fasteners 16 are located in a row that extends across the midsection of garment 10. The rear face of sound producing module 18 contains a row of matching fasteners 20, as shown in FIG. 2. When fasteners 20 are pressed into engagement with corresponding fasteners 16 on the front surface of garment 10, sound producing module 18 is retained in fixed position on the front of the garment, as shown FIG. 3.

A cartoon character, or a stylized animal, 21 is defined on the exposed face of module 18. A smaller flap 22 may be pinned sewn, or otherwise joined to the module 18. Flap 22 may be pivoted relative to the exposed face of module 18. Flap 22 may contain a fanciful character, and indicate the name of the songs, or other sounds, produced by module 18, and associated, in some manner, with character 21. To illustrate, if character 21 is a cat, the module may say “meow meow.” If the character 21 is a lion, the module may produce a roar.

FIG. 4 shows one side, or edge, of module 18, peeled back to show sound producing chip 24 situated with the module. Chip 24, when manually depressed, produces music, animal sounds, “white” noise, or messages, associated with the nature of character 21.

Module 18 is temporarily snapped into engagement with fasteners 20 on the garment 10. Thus, module 18 can be removed from garment 10 when the garment is laundered or cleaned. Module 18, once removed from garment 10, can be placed in a baby carriage or stroller to amuse the occupant, or can function as a stand alone toy.

FIGS. 5-6 show a bib 28 that is opened, and then secured, at its upper end, about the neck of a baby or infant. A cartoon character, or animal, 30, may be sewn onto the front of the bib, and a sound producing module (not shown) is incorporated into the bib in the interior of character 30. Flap 32, also sewn to the front face of the bib, normally obscures cartoon character 30. A design may be present on the exposed surface of the flap 32. The flap may be pivoted away from character 30 so that the sound producing module, located character 30 secured to the front face of bib 28, may be manually depressed. The flap may contain information about the sounds produced by depression of the sound producing module, instructions for handling same, etc.

Numerous variations and modifications to the two embodiments of the invention depicted above will occur to the skilled artisan. To illustrate, Velcro fasteners may be used in lieu of snap fasteners. Module 18 may include additional layers of fabric to cushion module 18 against impacts, should the module be dropped while securing as a stand-alone toy. Hence, the appended claims should be broadly construed in a manner consistent with applicant's invention, and should not be restricted to their literal terms. 

1. A garment for stimulating an infant wearing same, said garment body, comprising: a. at least the first fastener extending across said body, b. a sound producing module that generates sound in response to the application of manual pressure upon said module, c. at least the second complementary fastener located on one side of said module, d. said module being removeably secured to said garment by cooperative engagement between said at least one fastener on said module and said at least one fastener on said garment, and e. said sound producing module being adapted to be removed from said garment by unsnapping said fasteners, f. said sound producing module subsequently being relocated to a remote location; such as a baby carriage, to use as a stand-alone toy.
 2. The garment for an infant, as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a character secured to the front of said garment, and said sound producing module is located between said character and garment.
 3. The garment for an infant as claimed in claim 2, wherein the sound produced by said sound producing module is associated with said character in the front of said garment.
 4. The garment for an infant, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one fastener comprises a series of fasteners.
 5. The garment for an infant as claimed in claim 4, wherein said first series of fasteners on said garment extends horizontally across the garment.
 6. The garment for an infant as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one second complementary fasteners comprises a series of fasteners on said sound producing module extending horizontally across the module. 